Posts Tagged ‘hospital’

In an effort to curb healthcare spending, some insurance companies have tried to increase copays for outpatient visits in an effort to decrease the overall rate of visits to the doctor’s office. However, a new study from Brown University published in the Jan. 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine is showing that this strategy has some unintended consequences. After looking at some Medicare managed care plans that implemented such copay hikes between 2001 to 2006, the researchers noted an increase in hospital usage. Although these plans had 19.8 fewer annual outpatient visits per enrollee, they consequently had 2.2 additional hospital admissions and 13.4 more inpatient days per 100 enrollees. And as we all know being hospitalized is PRICEY. The authors estimate that by increasing outpatient copays in the short term Medicare plans might save $7,150 per 100 enrollees, but inpatient spending would swell by $24,000 per 100 enrollees in the year after the co-payment increase, thus not really saving any money at all. [via Medline Plus]

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A former employee at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York state was arrested earlier this month and accused of knowingly exposing numerous surgical patients to hepatitis C.  Kristen Diane Parker was apparently injecting herself with painkillers meant for patients, then refilling the syringes with saline solution for subsequent use, even though she knew she was infected with hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne disease that can cause serious liver problems, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. Northern Westchester Hospital is notifying approximately 2,800 patients who had surgery there to come in for testing. The hospital has set up a patient help line at 914-666-1902 for more information. [via CBS news]

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The US Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) is now making death rates for pneumonia, heart attack, and heart failure at US hospitals available online at their Hospital Compare website. The website was launched in 2005 in hopes that hospitals will improve quality of care if they are able to compare themselves with other hospitals. According to HHS, the mortality rates have been adjusted to take into account how sick each patient is. Is this information helpful to patients? Some believe that death rates don’t necessarily measure the quality of care hospitals provide. However, most agree that giving the public more information on hospital performance is, in general, a good thing. Full story.

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According to new CDC data the average wait time at US hospital emergency rooms have increased from 38 minutes to nearly one hour over the past decade. At the same time the number of emergency departments have dropped, which further exacerbates the problem. Emergency departments are often forced to shut down due to poor reimbursement for the services they provide. At the same time more and more patients are using the ER as their primary care facility for a variety of reasons – delaying care due to increased health care costs, difficulty in getting appointments to see their physicians in a timely manner, and lack of health insurance. The results are troubling, but not surprising. Full story.

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